NOTE: I will send a quick SitRep about these boxes in another email. This is a "trail tale".

So, yesterday my boyfriend and I took our annual day trip to Cape Cod. He has been hearing me go on and on about letterboxing for months and I asked him if we could *please* do a couple boxes while we were down there. Being a talented artist who studied art in high school and college, he is quite familiar with carving tools and such so he carved himself a stamp. I printed out the clues for A Very Gorey Letterbox and Heron's Haven, telling him about them. I also printed out the clues for the Highland Light (North Truro) and the ones in Osterville as backups in case we wanted to do more.

Let me tell you, after box #1, he took to it quite well. :) In fact, he was egging me on to hurry up and stamp because I was looking through the book to see everyone else's stamps! "I thought you said this was about doing it quickly and discreetly..."

After doing the two in Yarmouthport - Gorey and Heron, which were both in excellent condition with lots of new visitors - we headed back to Route 28 to continue our day, which includes driving the length of the Cape and stopping when we see something that catches our eyes. We had gotten to Eastham when I suggested trying the box in North Truro. Much to my surprise, he jumped at the chance and readily agreed!

That box was a lot tricker than the others because Highland Light is a popular place to visit, especially at sunset, which is when we got there. We figured out where it should be, then waited and waited until we were the only ones there... until we saw people coming up the path! We hurried to the spot, pretending that he was taking a picture of me while I grabbed for it - but it wasn't there! I went to our second guess, put down my bag and pretended that I was looking for something in my bag with one hand, reaching into the spot with my left. Sure enough, there it was.
Quick check for the people coming up the path - okay, they have stopped to take a picture of the lighthouse, but move quick! I popped open the top of the box and shrieked - a hitchhiker! Trying my best to keep my voice down, I threw it into my bag.
Another quick check for the people - oh crap, here they come. I grabbed the logbook of the box and gave it to Dave, who already had our signature stamps ready. I quickly stamp the box's stamp into our logbooks, handing them to Dave to dry while I quickly write our trail names and the date in the box's logbook. Quick, stash everything again, they have a little kid with them! Put the box back, push everything into my bag, and we stand up and laugh.
As we walked back along the path, the family asks us to take a picture of them, so we do and they return the favor. As soon as we were out of earshot, we start yakking a mile a minute about the box - what a great spot, and a hitchhiker! Dave asks what the name of it is, and I don't even know because I saw the word "hitchhiker" on it and threw it into my bag. :) My first hitchhiker, and obviously his as well because it was his first day boxing!

I tell you, that boy has tons of luck. Everything he does works out that way. :) We're not sure where we are going to plant it yet because he insisted that it be someplace out of the ordinary, as this hitchhiker has an interesting run - it was only a little bit away down the Cape at Chatham Light, yet it went to a few boxes in Connecticut before coming back to the Cape Cod National Seashore... on MONDAY. It arrived up here the day before we found it. That in and of itself shows how lucky my boy can be! :)

Thus, Moonshine and blue dragonfly had an excellent first day of boxing together. He told me in the car on the way to get a late dinner (we waited around for the box for so long!) that when I told him about letterboxing, it was something he agreed to do to make me happy and keep me company, but now he is psyched to do it more! In all the excitement we forgot to exchange our own stamps, but we'll do that today.

Our day in review:
Finds:
A Very Gorey Letterbox - Yarmouthport, MA
Heron's Haven - Yarmouthport, MA
Highland Light - North Truro, MA
Pilgrim Hat Hitchhiker

-Jena
blue dragonfly
P0 F19 (V8 HH1) X4
E0 C1 A2
with:
Dave
Moonshine
P0 F4 (HH1) X0

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